#9 | Gabriel Jesus - 2020/21 Performances

[jimmygrimblesboots]

Honesty, effort and a great attitude usualy goes a long way in football , and Jesus has them all , but he lacks the quality to spearhead a top european clubs forward line , would hate to see him leave because at only £25m he has been a great squad player and it would cost twice as much to get a similar quality player who probably isnt willing to play second fiddle , to Kane,Haaland or which ever striker we sign in the summer.

 

[Six in the city]

I've always been a fan of Jesus and wanted him to do well but it annoys me when he plays the whole game with his back against defenders.

 

[BlueMoonAcrossThePond]

Jesus is a gifted footballer - and deserves some sort of backup role in our squad if he'll accept such a role.

But as our main striker - he's nowhere near good enough.

 

[nellyonthewing]

Is it Pep's coaching, or is it our style of play , or has he just gone backwards like Sterling..
Either way our 'strike force' is worryingly toothless .

 

[mccity]

I thought once again it was no coincidence that all the other attacking players had oodles of space while Jesus was on the pitch.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

He just is not a striker for me. Has no killer instinct. Makes the wrong runs. Look at where Foden was for the first goal. Perfect positioning and finish. Jesus should be finding those positions and finishing chances. He needs to do more.

 

[mccity]

He just is not a striker for me. Has no killer instinct. Makes the wrong runs. Look at where Foden was for the first goal. Perfect positioning and finish. Jesus should be finding those positions and finishing chances. He needs to do more.

If it weren't for Jesus that ball to Foden never would have reached him. He takes both centre backs with him and Foden excellently capitalises on it.

That's what Jesus does. He helps the team. That's why he keeps getting picked to play up front by Pep Guardiola.

 

[mcfc482]

He creates space for players who can actually do something with it unless against Chelsea

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

If it weren't for Jesus that ball to Foden never would have reached him. He takes both centre backs with him and Foden excellently capitalises on it.

That's what Jesus does. He helps the team. That's why he keeps getting picked to play up front by Pep Guardiola.

Thing is, he doesn’t in the big games. He keeps getting dropped for those. I’m sure he only played tonight as KDB was injured. I know he has his fans on here but I’m not seeing much improvement from when he first joined us. He has had the chance to be our main striker this year and whilst I get he works hard and kudos to him for that, he needs to find more goal scoring opportunities.

 

[mccity]

Thing is, he doesn’t in the big games. He keeps getting dropped for those. I’m sure he only played tonight as KDB was injured. I know he has his fans on here but I’m not seeing much improvement from when he first joined us. He has had the chance to be our main striker this year and whilst I get he works hard and kudos to him for that, he needs to find more goal scoring opportunities.

True. But he's not in the bigger games due to Pep's want of control of possession. Bernardo is a safer bet against counter attacks due to his midfield ability than Jesus. And it's counter attacks that Pep seems to be most bothered by.


It's worth noting that until last season Jesus had the best xG/90 minutes out of anyone in the league. Whether you like that kind of statistic or not, it generally indicates that Jesus was better than anybody on average at getting goalscoring opportunities, including Aguero. As was remembered his issues were that he missed a lot of them.

This season, those numbers have dropped dramatically. Interestingly, we're not complaining about him being offside as often anymore. This season, due to Aguero's injury, we're playing with a false 9 system as it's more replicable with the players that we had. Jesus as a result since returning from his first injury this season has played a much deeper role that's predicated on dragging defenders around. In the games Aguero has played this season, he's been doing the same thing. Dropping deep, and focussing on space creation for others.

Jesus is playing a different role this season. He doesn't help himself with his non-confident finishing but as a centre-forward he's doing precisely what he's told to. Otherwise he wouldn't be getting picked at all.